Lady Tureiti Moxon is chairwoman of the National Urban Māori Authority and managing director of Te Kohao Health. Photo / NZME
Lady Tureiti Moxon is chairwoman of the National Urban Māori Authority and managing director of Te Kohao Health. Photo / NZME
OPINION:
The last two weeks watching Crown evidence on the livestream from the Royal Commission of Inquiry – Abuse in Care has placed a burning spotlight on the entrenched and tyrannical abuse of the State upon Māori here in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
We must not avert our eyes or hearts from the trauma, pain and suffering so many survivors have endured at the hands of the state over decades. Their powerful voices cannot be silenced or swept under the carpet with just an apology and compensation.
The Crown must atone for the racism, abuse, hostility and damage they have unleashed upon our people through its institutions who were supposed to protect and care for our tamariki/children.
Instead, they created a pathway to prison, homelessness, drugs and alcohol, mental health issues, suicide, poverty and separation from their culture and whānau.
Whānau who have been harmed should be at the centre of justice being seen to be done.
A class action should be filed holding the State to account. Criminal charges against the Crown need to be laid as it must take responsibility for the destruction it has caused to so many whānau, hapū and Iwi.
Lake Alice Hospital where stare care kids were mistreated. Photo / NZME
The leadership of Oranga Tamariki mentioning the Puao-te- ata-tu report in oral submissions before the commissioners at the hearing was nugatory. It has never been implemented.
Bureaucrats cannot hide behind quoting Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, the legislation that binds the chief executive to commit to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It only means something if it is actioned. They haven't.
Instead of propping up an oppressive and inhumane system, it should be dismantled. Māori need to have control over ourselves. Being contracted to Oranga Tamariki is not the same as having Māori Mana Motuhake and Tino Rangatiratanga over ourselves or our kāinga.
How many more reports does Cabinet need to see?
The irony of the hearing timing is not lost of me either.
In the same week the Crown gave evidence responding to reported abuse, the power of the Children's Commissioner (which has long challenged Oranga Tamariki) has officially been usurped.
Labour passed the Oversight of Oranga Tamariki System and Children and Young People's Commission Bill. It replaces the Children's Commissioner with the Children and Young People's Commission.
Media report that it was opposed by National, Act, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori. What does that tell you?
In our submission signed by Dame Tariana Turia, Dame Areta Koopu, Dame Iritana Tāwhiwhirangi and chairwoman of Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, we opposed the bill.
We are not alone. Te Puna Rangahau o te Wai Ariki - Aotearoa Centre for Indigenous Peoples and the Law research also emphasised the need to wait and give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (the Indigenous Declaration).
Legislation is meant to be a safeguard for us all - instead it has been used as a weapon of destruction for decades against Māori.
